CMS Proposed Rule – Drug Price Disclosure in Television Ads

PUBLISHED:
Oct 16, 2018

Relevant to:
All Healthcare Organizations

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule that would require prescription drug manufacturers to post the Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) for drugs covered in Medicare or Medicaid in direct-to-consumer television advertisements.

According to CMS, the proposed rule would inject greater transparency into the prices prescription drug manufacturers set and would give beneficiaries important information they need to make informed decisions based on cost, while concurrently providing a moderating force to counteract price increases.

Under the proposed rule, the price required to be posted would be for a typical course of treatment for an acute medication like an antibiotic, or a thirty-day supply of medication for a chronic condition that is taken every month, and the posting would take the form of a legible textual statement at the end of the ad. The HHS Secretary would maintain a public list of drugs that were advertised in violation of this rule. CMS would provide an exception to the requirement to post prices for prescription drugs with list prices of less than $35 per month.

CMS is accepting comment on this proposed rule as well as whether the regulation should apply to advertisements in other media forms such as radio, magazines, newspapers, websites, and social networking sites. Follow the link below to read the proposed rule and for comment submission instructions.

Comments will be accepted for sixty days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register, scheduled for October 18, 2018.